| Sumario: | This study aimed to evaluate students' current pragmatic competence regarding apology strategies from a speechact theory perspective and to examine whether their pragmatic competence can be improved through metapragmatic instruction. Additionally, the study aimed to identify the effective factors influencing students’ apology strategy preferences. A mixed methods design was employed as the research method, and data were collected through the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and semi-structured interviews. The participants consisted of 134 EFL students from the Political Science and Public Administration, International Trade and Logistics, Business, Banking and Finance, and Economics and Finance departments. Furthermore, 24 students from the same sample group participated in semi-structured interviews. When the quantitative data were examined, it was found that the most frequently used strategy by students was direct apology, followed by explanation and responsibility strategies, and then modified strategies. It was also revealed that students' DCT responses improved through metapragmatic instruction, with an increase in the number of core strategies they employed and the number of modified strategies, which is an indicator of authentic language use. The study also investigated the effective factors influencing students' strategy preferences and indicated that the students were mostly influenced by social status, age, and the nature of offense when applying apology strategies. In conclusion, this study aimed to investigate the current pragmatic competence of EFL students and to investigate whether pragmatic competence can be improved through meta-pragmatic instruction. Additionally, the study examined the effective factors influencing students' strategy preferences.
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